சனி, 11 அக்டோபர், 2014

Colombo disproves functionality of 13A

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 October 2014, 17:38 GMT]Despite the tall claims of New Delhi and Washington on the
effectiveness of the Provincial Council model under 13 Amendment of the
unitary constitution of genocidal Sri Lanka, as a ‘starting point’ for
the solution of national question in the island, the Northern Provincial
Council (NPC) chief minister Mr. C. V. Wigneswaran himself on Friday
has pointed out how the Rajapaksa regime in Colombo disproves the
functionality of the 13A. In a letter to Mahinda Rajapaksa, the NPC-CM
condemned the Colombo regime unilaterally convening a “Special District
Development Meeting” on Monday for the 5 districts coming under the NPC,
without consulting the provincial body or even informing it on the
necessity and agenda of the “curious meeting.” The NPC decided not to
attend the meeting.

“The
fact that the NPC has been bypassed in this endeavour also highlights
the practical impotency and hollowness of the 13th Amendment, as does
the allocation and usage of funds to the NPC,” Wigneswaran said.

The NPC-CM brought out the issue of Colombo distributing land permits in the province to people of its own choice.

In
urging Rajapaksa to fulfill his promises on 13+ to international
community and the prime minister of India following the end of war, the
NPC-CM said, “I expect the Government of India as the Guarantor of Tamil
Interests in North East Province at the time of signing of the Indo
Lanka Accord in July 1987, which paved the way for the Thirteenth
Amendment, to actively participate and contribute in the negotiation
process to enable the Tamil Speaking Peoples in the North East of Sri
Lanka to live with dignity, peace and security.”

“We are no doubt aware of the limitations of a unitary constitution in this regard,” Wigneswaran further said.

Tamil prisoners subjected to racial assault in Anuradhapura prison

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 October 2014, 08:57 GMT]A Sinhala assistant jailor and Sinhala inmates in the Sri Lankan
prison of Anuradhapura have brutally assaulted three Tamil political
prisoners, one of them a pastor and another a 60-year-old man, causing
serious injuries to them on Wednesday, said Northern Provincial
Councillor Ms Ananthy Sasitharan, who described the attack as a targeted
racist assault on Tamil inmates at the prison. The Tamil political
prisoners are suffering in the Sri Lankan jails. The racist jailors
subject them to psychological harassment by putting Sinhala narcotic
criminal prisoners in the same cells. The Tamil prisoners are not being
treated as human beings in the SL prisons, she said urging immediate
international pressure on the Sri Lankan government.

Citing
reliable sources within the SL prison in Anuradhapura, the NPC
councillor identified the pastor as A. Nakularasa who is serving a
7-year term. His case is still pending in the SL legal system, she said.

The other Tamil political prisoner subjected to brutal attack
is 60-year-old T. Parameswaran who is serving a 5-year term
imprisonment.

A fellow Tamil political prisoner, K. Kannan, who
rushed to help the fainting victim, Mr Paramewaran, was also subjected
to brutal attack.

The assistant jailor was abusing the Tamil
prisoners using derogatory terms against their identity and alleged
association with the LTTE in the past. Ananthy Sasitharan said the
assistant jailor, known as Upul Deniya, has also been behind racial
assaults on Tamil prisoners in the past.

“This is not the first
time the Tamil prisoners are subjected to racial assault within the
Anuradhapura prison. There have been several instances of such attacks
in the recent past,“ she said.

According to Ms Ananthy’s source,
four Sinhala prisoners with criminal background were put in the same
cell, where 12 Tamil political prisoners were imprisoned.

The
criminal prisoners continuously harassed the Tamil prisoners. The
assistant jailor intervened on Wednesday and brutally assaulted the
three Tamil prisoners after a dispute between the Sinhala and Tamil
prisoners. Sinhala prisoners had complained to the jailor saying that
the Tamil prisoners were using cell phones to communicate with the
outside world. The jailor seized the phones from both Sinhala and Tamil
inmates, but selectively assaulted the peaceful Tamil prisoners, Ms
Ananthy said.

Such attacks have become a daily routine in the
Sri Lankan prisons. But, not all the attacks get reported to the outside
world, she said.

“These assaults remind us of genocidal
massacres of the Tamil prisoners in the Sri Lankan jails in South since
the 1983 pogrom,” Ms Ananthy told journalists in Jaffna on Friday.

Vavuniyaa Citizen Committee chairman escapes assassination attempt

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 October 2014, 21:51 GMT]While the Citizen Committee of Vavuniyaa has been preparing for a
protest against the prolonged detention of the Tamil activist Ms
Jeyakumari and all other Eezham Tamil political prisoners on Friday, an
attack squad operated by the Sri Lankan military has targeted the
61-year-old chairman of the Committee, Mr Krishnapillai Thevarasa, on
Wednesday night. A 4-member squad that followed Mr Thevarasa while he
was returning home after attending a preparatory meeting at Vavuniyaa,
blocked him near the Sri Lankan military camp at Nedungkea’ni and
brutally attacked him using iron rods and batons. The attack comes 5
days before SL president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit to North.

The attacking squad that chased Mr Thevarasa in two motorbikes attempted
to kill him by burning him together with his motorbike in the paddy
field nearby the camp, the chairman of the Citizen’s Committee said. He
was rushed to Nedungkea’ni hospital with injuries and later transferred
to Vavuniyaa hospital. Nedungkea’ni, the home village of Mr Thevarasa,
is situated 30 km away from Vavuniyaa town.

Mr Thevarasa has been a key
person in mobilising Eezham Tamil rights activists in Vavuniyaa
district and he has been subjected to death threats in recent times by
the SL military intelligence. He has been instrumental in organising
demonstrations demanding the release of Tamil detainees in Sri Lankan
prisons.

Vavuniyaa Citizens Committee has been working closely
with citizen committees in Mannaar and Mullaiththeevu districts in
voicing for the rights of the kith and kin of the missing persons in
Vanni.

On 21 September, a 33-year-old journalist from Paranthan,
Sinnarasa Siventhiran, narrowly escaped from a killer squad that
intended to kill him by throwing him in front of a vehicle on A9 Road in
Ki'linochchi district.

வெள்ளி, 10 அக்டோபர், 2014

EPDP, Sri Lankan CID jointly harass newspaper editors in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 October 2014, 21:18 GMT]Sri Lankan military and police establishments in Jaffna and Vanni
mainland have intensified threats against Tamil journalists and
activists in recent days. Sri Lankan Terrorist Investigation Division,
Criminal Investigation Division, Intelligence operatives of Defence
Ministry and paramilitary operatives are jointly deployed in a
systematic programme suppressing the freedom of expression, an editor of
a daily newspaper told TamilNet Wednesday. The SL police CID have
deployed EPDP operatives twice within the last month to stage protests
against Jaffna Thinakkural.

While the SL military intelligence establishment is harassing the
journalists individually, a collective harassment is being carried out
through staging so-called protests, said the editor, who did not wish to
be named.

On Tuesday, EPDP brought around 20 of its operatives
and supporters in Sri Lankan CID vehicle to stage a protest against the
paper. The ‘protestors’ were complaining about a news item appeared in
the paper in connection with a sexual abuse of a child.

“Earlier,
the SL military used to issue direct death threats deploying armed EPDP
operatives. Now, they stage threatening protests aiming to disturb the
coverage and editorial work of the staff,” the editor said.

Two
weeks ago, a similar protest was staged in front of Thinakkural office
in Jaffna by the EPDP. The EPDP ‘protesters’ were then citing another
news item to stage their protest.

புதன், 8 அக்டோபர், 2014

Shivajilingam reiterates majority demand of genocide investigation

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 October 2014, 15:56 GMT]Northern Provincial Council (NPC) member M.K. Shivajingam on Tuesday
vowed to confront any legal action from the South against the joint
appeal sent by the majority NPC and Eastern Provincial Tamil National
Alliance (TNA) Councillors to the Office of the UN High Commissioner of
Human Rights (OHCHR) in August demanding investigations on genocide
against Eezham Tamils. At a press conference held at Jaffna Press Club,
the senior political leader of Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation
(TELO) also warned those expressing views against the association with
former militant groups turned political parties constituting the TNA
alliance not to spoil the unity within the Tamil alliance.

Mr Shivajilingam reminded NPC Chief
Minister C.V. Wigneswaran on the past history and legacy of corporation
that existed between the ex militant and political parties that
represented the Eezham Tamils. He touched on how the TULF came forward
to nominate the imprisoned TELO leader Kuddimani as the TULF
parliamentary candidate in the early 80's, how the militant and
traditional parties worked together in representing the Tamil position
at Thimphu in 1985 and how the abandoned ITAK house symbol was mooted as
the symbol of the TNA by the LTTE leader.

He also reminded the
current deviators among the TNA on how the TNA was formed with the
initiative from the Tamil journalists from the East, especially how the
statesmanship and political thought of the renowned Tamil journalist
Sivaram Dharmeratnam had contributed to the creation of the TNA.

“TNA
is not only an electoral alliance. The people want to see it as a
unified body and embodiment of their political aspirations,” Mr
Shivajilingam said.

“The people don’t want to see us launching
branches of TELO, EPRLF, PLOTE and ITAK in the districts. They want to
see us working as a sole body of the TNA,” he said.

The NPC Councillor said he would continue to call for international investigations on genocide committed against Eezham Tamils.

28
elected Eezham Tamil councillors from the 38-member Northern Provincial
Council (NPC) and 5 of 11 opposition Tamil National Alliance members
from the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) had signed in the appeal that
demanded the “OHCHR investigative team to look into the pattern of all
the atrocities against the Tamil people, and to determine if Genocide
has taken place.”

“Tamil people strongly believe that they have
been, and continue to be subjected to Genocide by Sri Lanka,” said the
appeal sent to OHCHR in August 2014.

Tamil teachers protest against SL military interference in schools

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 October 2014, 06:43 GMT]Sri Lankan military, which usually threatens people against taking
part in civil protests in advance, has now went a step further with
staging ‘counter protests’ to disturb the democratic mobilisation of the
people, trade unions and activists. On Monday, the occupying Sri Lanka
Army deployed its operatives to stage a ‘counter protest’ in front of
the Jaffna Central Bus stand where Tamil teachers in Jaffna, organized
under the Ceylon Teachers Union were protesting with 15 demands against
appointments with low-wage, discrimination in promotions, SL military
interference in the administration of the schools in North and East,
circulars in Sinhala, continued occupation of Palaali Teachers training
college, discrimination in transfer policy and continued ignorance of
complaints filed against corruption.

Protest by CTU in Jaffna

The protest was organised on the occasion of the International Day of Teachers.

The
General Secretary of Ceylon Teachers Union, Mr Joseph Stalin, in his
address explained how the SL military was interfering in the civil
affairs of the schools through the militarised administration under the
Governor of North, Maj Gen (retd) G.A. Chandrasri who is the former
military commander of the Sri Lankan forces in Jaffna and through the
paramilitary and EPDP leader Douglas Devananda. He said the Ceylon
Teachers Union condemned the continued closure of Teachers Training
College in Palaali, which is still occupied under the so-called High
Security Zone of the SL military in Valikaamam North.

The
principals of the schools are unable to ensure the independency of the
school system as the SL military is interfering in the day-to-day
activities of the schools in the North and East, he further said.

The 15 demands of the teachers
union had already been handed over to the Education Ministry of the
Colombo government and to the provincial education ministry of the NPC,
Mr Stalin further said.

Tamil National Alliance (TNA)
councillors Ananthy Sasitharan, B. Gajatheepan and Tamil National
Peoples Front (TNPF) leaders Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam and Kajendren
Selvarajah took part in the protest.

SL military operatives who
came in two three-wheelers staged the counter-protest carrying slogans
against the protest by the Ceylon Teachers Union. The squad was
attempting to instigate verbal abuse. When a protesting teacher asked a
squad member to explain the slogan he was holding, he had no idea of the
content in the placard.

Despite the harassment by the squad, the Ceylon Teachers Union staged the protest from 2:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

The protesting squad deployed by the SL military agains the protest by the teachers in Jaffna

Palestine and Eezham Tamils: The Hindu group's double standard

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 October 2014, 07:24 GMT]The Hindu group and its associates known for their bias and bigotry
towards the issues of genocide and independence of Eezham Tamils, and
towards the LTTE-led militant struggle of the recent past, have now
reiterated their stand on Palestine, endorsing Hamas as the resistance
force representing the people of Gaza. As a response to the recent
Israeli military offensive against the people of Gaza, The Hindu and
associates have been rallying public opinion in favour of the
Palestinian struggle. In two separate events organized in Chennai in
Tamil Nadu, the affluent Hindu clique has vehemently condemned Israel
and termed its acts against the Palestinians as war crimes and demanded
India to take a more vocal stand against Israel, writes a media watcher
in Chennai.

During the genocidal war, which concluded in Mu'l'livaaykkaal in May
2009, The Hindu was leading the Indian national media campaign, which
effectively distorted the unfolding events as a legitimate war against
‘terrorism’ by heavily reproducing the Sri Lankan state propaganda.

There
is thus a perplexing contrast in their pro-Sri Lanka-ness and their
anti-Israeli attitude: in their understanding and rationalization of the
Palestinian national resistance and the structural nature of violence
Palestinian people face, while demonizing the LTTE and silencing the
structural genocide faced by the Eezham Tamils. This was most evident
during the recent events organized by groups associated with The Hindu
and in an article appeared in The Hindu affiliated monthly, The
Frontline Magazine.

On August 6, a meeting was organized by
Harmony India at New College auditorium, Royapettah, Chennai, in
solidarity with Palestine. The Harmony India – which officially the
‘Association for Communal Amity, Secularism and Human Solidarity’– is
headed by The Hindu’s N.Ram and his associates. Despite its name, the
association is predominantly constituted by a particular section of the
populace.

The dignitaries spoke at the meeting besides N. Ram
were U. Vasuky, State secretary of All India Democratic Women’s
Association, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, former Bengal governor and former New
Delhi ambassador in Colombo, Nawab Mohammed Abdul, Prince of Arcot, and
T.M Krishna, Carnatic musician.

The speakers stressed repeatedly
that India must be more vocal in condemning the aggression of Israel in
Gaza and its human rights violations. They furthered that the
conflict, which has so far claimed nearly 2000 lives, mostly civilians,
including a large number of children, should be viewed purely as ‘an act
of aggression’ by Israel on unarmed, innocent people. “Gaza has become
an open air prison and unarmed civilians have become easy targets,”
said U. Vasuki. She also urged India to fall back on its traditional
‘pro-Palestine’ stance and condemn the violence. She added that the only
permanent solution for the current crisis was to restore the
Israel-Palestine border to its 1967 position, which in effect expressed
her endorsement of Palestinian statehood and nationhood.

N.Ram,
Chairman, Kasturi and Sons Ltd., said that of the 1,865 people killed
since violence erupted on 6 July, 429 were less than 18 years old, 243
were women and 79 were above the age of 70. He further said that Hamas
was elected by the people in 2006 and was now the vanguard of the
resistance in Gaza. He targeted the present Indian government’s refusal
to allow a parliament resolution to condemn Israel’s assault, as unjust,
arbitrary and illegal. Mr. Ram stressed that the meeting was convened
not to call for the destruction of Israel, but to express solidarity
with the people of Palestine in line with the two-state solution.

Gopalkrishna
Gandhi said that India should take a strong stand on the issue and
Nawab Mohamed Abdul Ali, the Prince of Arcot, said “Mass murder in any
form should not occur. War has achieved nothing other than causing more
wars”. Carnatic musician T.M. Krishna said the violence in Gaza should
not be seen as a ‘Muslims versus Jews’ issue, but should be viewed
purely on humanitarian grounds.

The complete lack of solidarity
with Eezham Tamils was strikingly evident in the meeting that not a
single line of comparison was drawn between the oppression and state
violence committed by Israel on Palestine and Sri Lanka on the nation of
Eezham Tamils. Neither did any of the solidarity dignitaries nor
participants draw any parallel or an even a comment between Eezham and
Palestine.

The logic of solidarity expressed by The Hindu
associates on behalf of the Palestinian people and their struggle has
persistently been denied when it concerns Eezham. This evidences the
Indian national media’s role in delegitimizing the Eelam political
struggle through their control of public and popular opinion.

On
18 August, a panel discussion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
titled “War and Peace” was held in Chennai at the Indian Institute of
Technology.

The panelists for the discussion were another group
affiliated to The Hindu: Mr. Sashikumar, chairman of Asian college of
Journalism, Dr. Stanley Johny from The Hindu Business Line, Dr. Tabraz, a
professor of IIT Madras and Mr.Pradyot Baradwaj, a student of IIT
Madras.

The panelists were stridently opposed to Israel's
pounding of Gaza and Dr. Stanley Johny stressed the disproportionate
loss of Palestinian lives and property, which he pointed out as nothing
but the attack on Palestinian Nationhood. He gave a brief historical
background to the conflict from 2006, when Hamas won the majority in the
Palestinian election. He stressed the importance of inevitability of
Hamas retaliating to Israel’s structural genocide and said that the
human shield theory used by the Israeli state against the Hamas
militants is hogwash.

Mr. Sashi Kumar called Israel a rogue state and received a roaring applause from the audience.

One
of the students present in the auditorium questioned the panelist on
their double standards in their solidarity with Palestine and denial to
Tamil Eelam. The student noted out the similarities of the military
campaign against Tamil Eelam and Palestine and asked “Why are you ready
to see Hamas as a legitimate group fighting for their self
determination. Why do Liberals and Indian communists like many of you
dismiss the structural genocide against Eelam Tamil children and women
with apathy and scorn?”

Taken aback Shashi Kumar replied, "I
agree with you, if not for LTTE the Tamils would have been finished off
much earlier but the LTTE is a proto fascist organization, which killed
many Tamil groups"

In contrast, in an article carried in
Frontline on August 22, the following was written about Hamas and the
Israeli military attack:

“Demonising Hamas by characterising it
as a “terrorist” organisation, Israel started accelerating its game plan
for the scuttling of the two-state scenario envisaged in the Oslo
Accord […].The flattening of Gaza, in short, has nothing to do with
Hamas or terrorism. It is about never-ending control over Palestinian
land by the occupiers and denying Palestinians the freedom they have
been fighting for. Mahmoud Abbas, speaking for all Palestinians, issued a
heartfelt appeal as Israel was trying to bomb the civilian population
into submission.”

Two dead bodies washed ashore in Mannaar yet to be identified

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 October 2014, 19:28 GMT]Two bodies washed ashore in September have not been identified, legal
sources in Mannaar said. The decomposed bodies have been kept for
identification. While many believed that the victims could be Tamil
Nadu fishermen as there was no local reports of missing fishermen. One
of the bodies was buried before the stipulated time for burial and was
dug up again following a court order on Saturday.

A dead body was washed ashore in Mannaar, 2 km away from the Sri Lanka
Navy camp in Vangkaalai on 03 September 2014. The decomposed body was
not identified. After the post-mortem examinations, the body was to be
kept till 24 September and buried.

In the meantime, another body
washed ashore in decomposed state at South Bar in Mannaar on 15
September. This body was also kept at the hospital mortuary for
post-mortem investigations and burial. But, the second unidentified body
had been mistakenly buried instead of the first one before the
deadline.

Following a court order on 02 October, the mistakenly
buried body was exhumed at the presence of a medical office and Mannaar
Justice Ananthy Kanagaratnam on Saturday.

SL military chases Tamils out of farming land in Poththuvil, Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 October 2014, 22:16 GMT]15 Tamil farmers who were clearing the agricultural lands at
Oottuch-cheanai in Poththuvil of Ampaa’rai district were chased away by
the occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers who came from Oo'rani camp
on Friday. The SLA soldiers have seized the tools used by the Tamil
farmers, said T. Kalaiyarasan, a councillor from the Eastern Provincial
Council. The Tamil councillor said the act by the SL military is just
another example for how the civil affairs are being subjected to the
control and command of the SL military. The Tamil people have been using
the upper-lying lands of 100 acres for more than 60 years, he said.

Militarisation and deployment of the State mechanisms of Colombo go hand
in hand in the demographic genocide against Eelam Tamils in Ampaa'rai,
the Tamil councillor said.

The farmers were clearing the lands for the next season of agriculture on Friday.

Some
of the farmers were also summoned to the SLA camp in Oo'rani and
threatened by the SL military officers there, Tamil farmers from
Oottuch-cheanai said.

Sri Lankan Forest Conservation Department
from Colombo has been claiming 50 acres of the 100-acre farming land as
‘State land’, the farmers further said.

SL police arrests protesting former EDPD politician in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 October 2014, 23:15 GMT]The Sri Lankan Police in Jaffna arrested the General Secretary of
Mutpoakkuth Thamizh Theasiya Kadchi (MTTK) Sutharsingh Vijayakanth and
two of his fellow party members Friday night while they were waging a
peaceful fast at Nalloor temple demanding the Sri Lankan President
Mahinda Rajapaksa to release all Tamil political prisoners from the Sri
Lankan prisons. The arrests were made on the charge that they were
getting electricity from a nearby house to the podium of the fasting
campaign. The fast was launched as there was no reply from the Sri
Lankan President to their letter urging general amnesty to all Tamil
political prisoners, the protesters said. Mahinda Rajapaksa is
scheduled to visit Jaffna on a two-day visit on October 12.

Mr Sutharsingh Vijayakanth,
a former EPDP member and a councillor of Jaffna Municipal Council, left
the EPDP and launched MTTK recently.

The party of Sutharsingh Vijayakanth was also behind a recent protest in front of the Jaffna District Secretariat.

The arrests were made around 8:00 p.m. as the fasting campaign, which began Friday morning at 10:00 a.m. was gaining momentum.

More than 40 people from various grassroots groups are taking part in the fast on a rotation basis.

The
protesters were receiving electricity from a nearby house to their
podium with the permission from the house, they said. The SL police said
the protesters were using illegal way to receive electricity.

Despite the arrests, the campaign will go on as planned till Sunday evening, the MTTK members told media.

“Five
years have gone after the war. While certain ex-LTTE personalities,
who were in the leading positions in the LTTE have become deputy
ministers and confidantes of the presidential siblings, the others are
still in prison without any amnesty,” Mr Vijayakanth said while he
commenced the fast Friday morning.